Send Relief

Michael Cooper was not prepared for what he saw — but he knew it would be unusual.

Volunteers had come to his hometown of Salt Lake City from Houston and Virginia, most of them strangers to each other. They were doing something that seemed almost too simple for the distance they’d traveled: handing out donuts to high school students on their way into class.

But Cooper wasn’t concerned about the donuts or those volunteers. He was curious to see how his daughter would handle things.

Here she was — a 15-year-old freshman — standing with those volunteers at the school entrance her mother had prayed over for 11 years, telling every student who walked past: "Come to Leap of Faith. Jesus loves you."

That school has 20 Christian students.

That morning, they stood in front of their classmates and talked about Jesus. Because 275 strangers traveled from 15 states and showed up to hand out donuts.

"What I got to witness," Cooper told the rally crowd that night, "was 15 million Southern Baptists standing behind my daughter."

That's what Serve Tour Salt Lake City looked like.
37 churches. 24 projects. 270 gospel conversations.
Doors knocked. Bibles given. Prayers prayed at a skate park, inside a refugee community, on a college campus, inside a correctional facility.

Most people in Salt Lake City don't know a single biblical Christian. In one weekend, 275 people flew and drove to remind the missionaries already there that they are not alone.

Read the full story → go.sendrelief.org/SLC

There are people sitting in church every Sunday carrying wounds no one can see.

The child who grew up in abuse.
The veteran haunted by memories.
The foster parent overwhelmed by trauma behaviors.
The neighbor silently battling anxiety, grief, or addiction.

And sometimes, without realizing it, the church can unintentionally make hurting people feel even more unseen.

But what if our churches became places where wounded people felt safe, known, and loved?

Send Relief’s free course, How to Become a Trauma-Informed Church, helps pastors, leaders, and volunteers better understand how trauma impacts the body, mind, and spirit — and how the Church can reflect the compassion of Jesus in the way we serve and care for people.

Because ministry is not just about preaching truth.

It’s also about creating spaces where people can heal enough to hear it. ❤️
Take the free course today⬇️
https://courses.sendrelief.org/courses/how-to-become-a-trauma-informed-church/